Pine Mountain Lake Aero Club

Press Releases

August 2018

Danielle Coelho

Anthony Felts

Joshua Skelley

Roxie Compton

By Catherine Santa Maria

PML Aero Club has more news on our growing club. Danielle Coelho received her Private Pilot’s License in July and three of our new members soloed Roxie Compton, Anthony Felts and Joshua Skelley. It turns out that all four of these members are students of Larry Jobe. Our membership is very proud of all of them.

May 6, 2018

By Catherine Santa Maria

The PML Aero Club is proud to announce that Scott Rexwinkle a member of the Aero Club obtained his private pilot’s license on April 9, 2018. We are very proud of Scott’s accomplishment. Scott’s flight instructor was Ken Orloff. Scott is the fifth member to do his training and obtain a private pilot’s license since the Club started back in 2008.

Catherine Santa Maria, Janet Gregory, Ben Damm, and Andy Mankus are the other members of the Club who earned their private Pilot’s license since the clubs inception.

We all were trained in a 1974 Cessna 172 with a 180HP engine. The club has four flight instructors: Mike Gustafson, Bob Hornauer, Larry Jobe and Ken Orloff, available to assist student pilots as well as licensed pilots.

July 2012

By Catherine Santa Maria

The Aero Club has been very busy over the last few months. We welcomed our new member Steve McCorkle who officially joined in April. Steve took advantage of our club's 3 month introductory offer. The Aero Club still has this promotion going on. Once again the offer waives your first 3 months of dues so that all you pay for the first three months is your flight time. In addition, your initiation fee will not be due until the end of the 3 months which gives you plenty of time to decide if you want to join the group.

The first weekend in May, The Aero Club helped support the EAA Young Eagles Fly in held at Columbia Airport. According to Michael Thoeben, Chapter President our support made a big difference and helped the EAA make the event successful. The group was able to fly about 35 Young Eagles. In addition, out of the 35 young eagles 15 were also Boy Scouts who were working on obtaining their Aviation Merit Badges. According to Michael the enthusiasm was terrific at the entire event. A big thank you to Bob Hornauer for being the pilot for the day.

October 2011

By Catherine Santa Maria

July and August were busy fly months for the AERO club members. Some of us logged in over 10 hours in one month. I have been doing lots of solo flying and even completed a solo cross country trip to Tracy. Jim Goodrich took a trip up to Portland and did some glider flying and Rick, Danielle and Janet and myself have been doing lots of training. Bob has been keeping the plane operating safely so that we can all enjoy the thrill of flying.

Larry Jobe prepared a booklet which is named “Path to a Private Pilot Certificate” that will be available on airport day at his booth however the information was so good that I asked him to send me a copy and he did. Listed below is some information from his document that is very interesting especially if you have a desire to become a private pilot:

· Learning to fly is a complex task that takes practice and time. While you can legally get your certificate within 40 hours of flight time that is rarely done. The older you are the longer it will take you. (Boy, I sure know about that). Motor skills we use in driving a car do not transfer over to flying and in fact become an impediment at times. Thus if you have been driving for forty years it will be harder for you to re-train your motor skills to fly a plane. A young person who has just started driving doesn’t have the problem of overcoming their years of driving and they usually adapt right away. So as a general rule of thumb for every year you are over 18 add an hour of flight time to the 40 hours. 60 years old equals 82 hours flight time (40+42). Nationwide average is reported as 80 hours of flight time. Figure about four hours of ground time for every hour spent in the air.

· You need to physically fly the plane plus learn about weather, flight rules, aerodynamics, navigation, communications, air traffic control and aircraft systems. There are ground schools for this as well as self study courses. You also have to pass a physical exam administered by an FAA physician.

· Costs are the big variable in the equation. Aircraft rental rates vary widely as does the cost of an individual instructor. Ground school and course material usually runs about $200 to $400 plus you need to get a good noise canceling headset such as “Lightspeed” which Larry highly recommends. It will cost between $500 and $900 depending on the model and vendor. Flight time times the hourly cost of the plane and instructor will be the biggest portion of your cost and there is no way to predict how much time this will entail.

· General aviation and “those little airplanes” as some many call them, are as safe as any other mode of travel, if not safer. Flying is as safe as each individual chooses to make it. How to fly safely and deal with the extremely rare occurrence of an actual emergency is a top priority in your training.

Well, the entire article is not printed above however, if you would like more information on the “Path to a Private Pilot” contact Larry Jobe at his real estate office at 962-5501or if you are interested in joining the Aero Club please contact Dennis Smith at 962-4950.

June 9, 2011

By Catherine Santa Maria

The first part of this month our plane is grounded while going through the annual process. Bob Hornauer our maintenance officer is heading up the annual and has everyone in the club working to get the annual completed so that we can all get back to flying.

Mike Gustafson is another one of our Certified Flight Instructors and we are featuring Mike in this month’s article. See Mike’s bio below:

Mike grew up in Tucson, Arizona and says he loves the heat and is not really comfortable until the temperature is over 90 degrees. After college, Mike moved to the Silicon Valley and worked there his whole adult life. He specialized in small start-up companies and his technical specialty was RF and microwave engineering.

Mike always wanted to fly and he learned as soon as he could afford lessons in the late 1960s. His first airplane was an Interstate Cadet tail dragger where he learned why airplanes have a rudder. He worked his way through a few different types of airplanes finally settling on a 1973 Cherokee 140. He bought the 140 knowing that he intended to keep it forever and to modify the plane in some very major ways, converting it to an 180HP engine with a constant speed propeller, speed mods, rear windows and baggage door. Each step he took with “525” was and still is a labor of love.

His bucket list included building his own airplane so for 6 years he worked on a Van’s RV-7 tail dragger. It is aerobatic and goes like greased lighting. He is very happy with the way it turned out.

Along the way Mike got his Certified Flight Instructor’s rating in single and multi-engine aircraft, Advanced Ground Instructor, and Airline Transport Pilot ratings. In addition, to private and instrument students, he also taught ground school at Foothill and San Mateo colleges and recently completed a class for student pilots at Pine Mountain Lake.

After retirement he spent a few years working for Vern Miller Aviation in San Jose to qualify for his Aircraft and Power plant ratings.

When Mike is not at the airport, he likes to spend time on Virginia’s and his boat (Pilot’s Lounge). He also likes to help out at Camp Tuolumne Trails, Brainy Groveland, Friends of the Lake and in various roles with the PML homeowners association.

Thanks Mike for sharing your bio with us and ,by the way, Mike was my ground school instructor and guess what I passed my FAA exam on June 7, 2011 and currently Mike is my flight instructor and never lets me get away with anything. With his help I hope to achieve my dream of obtaining my private pilot’s license.

We have a new member that joined our club in June. Welcome Janet Gregory to the PML Aero Club. Janet is a student pilot working on obtaining her pilot license.

May 9, 2011

By Catherine Santa Maria

The Aero Club met on May 7, 2011 at the hangar of Larry Jobe. Each month Larry let’s the club use his hangar to meet which is very generous of him and Nina. We all appreciate Larry and Nina’s generosity.

Larry Jobe is one of our CFIs (Certified Flight Instructor). We are featuring Larry in this month’s article. See Larry’s Bio below:

Larry began flight instruction in 1966 as a Certified Flight Instructor Airplanes and Instruments (CIFI or CFII). Van Nuys was his first home field and at the time it was the third busiest airport in the world including commercial airports. Although he had an instrument instructor rating he didn’t enjoy instrument instruction so he focused on primary students and his best friend, Al Cordle, did all of the instrument students. He gave instruction in both single and multi engine land airplanes.

Larry went to work for Cable Commuter Airline in 1968 and flew Twin Otters for about 500 hours. He then went on to United Airlines in 1969 and flew almost everything they had: Boeing 727, 737, 747,757, 767, 777 and Douglas DC-8 and DC-10. He retired in 2001 flying the Boeing 747-400 all over the world. He is rated as an ATP in Airplane Single & Multi-engine Land B-737, B747-4, B757, B767 and B-777. He went to 26 separate schools with United and did more check rides. And he says “Yes, I still don’t like check rides”.

In early 1970 Larry was chief pilot for a flying club based at Dulles International Airport in Washington,DC. They had a fleet of about 20 planes consisting of most singles to several multi-engines planes. They also operated a part 135 operation.

While Larry was in Washington, DC he helped start the first Boy Scout Eagle Aviation Troop. He earned the money for and bought the trainer, a Cessna 150, and gave the boys instruction in it. A couple of the young men are flying for airlines today.

In late 1970 and early 1980 Larry instructed out of the largest flying club based at Livermore Airport, the Valley Pilots.

In 1984 Larry and Nina moved to Pine Mountain Lake where he taught many of the wives and some of the children of their neighbors to fly.

Larry has flown about 21,000 hours of which over 4,000 hours is flight instruction.

Larry says that flying for him is not a vocation or an avocation but an obsession.

Wow, thanks Larry for sharing.

March 2011

By Catherine Santa Maria

Yesterday I had a short cross country over to Calaveras County airport with my flight instructor. I prepared a flight plan called Flight Service and got a very nice man that walked me through my first call to a Flight Service Station. We took off around 10:30AM and headed toward Calaveras and with my flight plan on my lap was able to keep my heading and actually find the airport. Made my landing and went over to the pilot’s lounge where there was a woman at the radio and she said “Was that you that landed?” I said yes and she said “Wow what a beautiful short field landing”. As you can imagine that comment made my day.

This month we are highlighting Joe Riley one of our new members. Joe has a military background with the US Army. While serving in the army he was a chief warrant officer, a helicopter and fixed wing command pilot, flight instructor, instrument flight instructor and a combat veteran. Ask him sometime about his helicopter experiences in Vietnam.

Joe is a retired mechanical engineer/business manager. Joe used his commercial pilot’s license and his Piper Cub to successfully conduct business regionally for more than 40 years.

Joe is co-owner of The Cub Inn which opened in April 2009. This business was a life-long dream of Joe’s and his wife Charleen who is also a member of the Aero Club. Their dream was to build a log cabin and turn it into a Bed & Breakfast. But they wanted to offer something unique-not just your typical B&B! Their mission was to create an informal atmosphere in which their guests would feel comfortable enough to put their feet on the furniture-as if they were in their own home, and take in the beautiful nature and peacefulness that surrounds their three-acre setting.

Thank you for sharing your story with us Joe!

January 2011

By Catherine Santa Maria

On November 30, 2010 on a beautiful morning at our very own Pine Mountain Lake Airport I did my very first Solo Flight. I cannot ever thank my flight instructor, Mike Gustafson, for his encouragement and belief in me. Mike will be teaching a ground school class and two of us are already signed up so if you are interested in taking the course either as a new student pilot or are currently a pilot and would like a refresher course give Mike a call at 962-6336. The course is starting in January and will run for six weeks.

Charleen Sue Beamone of our new members gave us her aviation bio. See her story below:

“I’ve had a thing for all things aviation for as long as I can remember. An old boyfriend bought me my first 10 flying lessons, and then he said I was on my own for the rest. Since I was obviously already addicted, I had to find a way. I joined the local EAA chapter in Long Beach so I could have folks to talk to about this passion and quickly became secretary and newsletter editor.

One day while hanging around Torrance Airport (it’s always a good thing to be a girl at an airport); I got the opportunity to fly in a Piper Cub. The rest is history. That was the most wonderful experience on the planet. That gentle, yellow soul winging over the cliffs of Palos Verdes transformed me. It was heaven. I had to have one of those little yellow airplanes of my own. In the fall of 1994, after many thousands of dollars and several instructors later, I had my private pilot’s license.

Since the second best thing to actually flying for a living is talking about flying for a living, I hustled up a job at Aircraft Spruce and Specialty as a sales rep. It was the best job I ever had…who else actually gets paid to meet and talk about their favorite subject with aviation legends like Scott Crossfield, Dick and Burt Rutan, Ray Stits, Patty Wagstaff, Jon Sharp and even our own Wayne Handley himself? WOW!

I even met my husband, Joe, at an air show while I was working in the booth selling parts for Aircraft Spruce. We subsequently built a Wag Aero Cubby and painted it olive drab with Army Air Corp markings so we could get a cool parking space when we took it to air shows. Eventually we came upon a wonderful little yellow 1941 Piper Cub at our local airport. One ride in that angel, and I was hooked, and this little dream-come-true came home with us. That little treasure was with us for more than 5 years. Did you know that it takes only 5-1/2 hours to fly a Cub from here to Corona?

Well, The rest of the story most of you already know. We opened The Cub Inn Bed & Breakfast (note significance of the name) in 2009 and since opening, we have had many, many pilots fly in to visit us. Joe and I miss our Cub which was sold in 2009, but we’re reviving our addiction with membership in the PML Aero Club. We both look forward to new flying adventures in the skies above the beautiful Sierra Nevada”.

Thanks Charleen for sharing your story with all of us and once again welcome to the PML Aero Club.